From TIME · Stephanie Zacharek · · 2m
Once Upon a Time in Harlem captures a legendary reunion
A 1972 film of Harlem Renaissance figures reconnecting after 50 years, lost for decades, finally completed and released.
In brief
A 1972 film of Harlem Renaissance figures reconnecting after 50 years, lost for decades, finally completed and released. Filmmaker William Greaves' 1972 documentary of Harlem Renaissance figures reuniting after 50 years, completed by his family after his 2014 death, is now released as a major work of cinema…
A party in Harlem, 1972
Filmmaker William Greaves arranged a reunion in Duke Ellington's Harlem apartment, inviting Harlem Renaissance figures who had not seen each other in fifty years.
Who came to the party
Guests included muralist Aaron Douglas, poet and novelist Arna Bontemps, society editor Gerri Major, jazz pianist and composer Eubie Blake, and many others from the Renaissance era.
Greaves' vision for the film
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Greaves appointed his son David as cinematographer and aimed to create a documentary recording how these people lived, what they accomplished, and how we honor those who hold our past.
The film went unfinished
Greaves, known for experimental documentaries like Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One and the pioneering program Black Journal, considered this his most important work but died in two thousand fourteen before completing it.
The film is finally completed
David Greaves and his daughter Liani Greaves, William's granddaughter and a producer, brought the film to life. Once Upon a Time in Harlem is now one of the great documentaries of the year.
Photographer James Van Der Zee
Van Der Zee, who took extraordinary portraits of Harlem's show people and everyday citizens in the nineteen twenties, played piano at the party and revealed he was trained as a classical musician before turning to…
Living through the Renaissance
Painter and activist Richard Price Nugent reflected on the era: "While you're living it, it is the now." Actor Leigh Whipper and publisher Richard B. Moore recited poems and passages from memory.
“While you're living it, it is the now.”
Ida Mae Cullen's correction
Ida Mae Cullen, widow of poet Countee Cullen, reminded the group that the Harlem Renaissance really lasted just one decade, the nineteen twenties, though its ripples began years before and resonated for decades after.
Regina Andrews' story of dishes
Librarian Regina Andrews at the one hundred thirty-fifth Street branch of the New York Public Library befriended poets including Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes.
“It was just the joy of living and creating together.”
The takeaway
Filmmaker William Greaves' 1972 documentary of Harlem Renaissance figures reuniting after 50 years, completed by his family after his 2014 death, is now released as a major work of cinema.
